Lax security sees company disqualified

The People's Liberation Army's equipment management department announced on Tuesday that it had disqualified a State-owned bidding company from acting as an agent for equipment procurement due to improper handling of classified information.

According to a statement from the scientific research and procurement bureau of the Central Military Commission's Equipment Development Department, China Far East International Tendering Co was acting as a tendering agency for a unit of the PLA's Strategic Support Force.

The statement was released on Tuesday on a tendering-information website affiliated to the PLA's equipment management department.

The investigation found that the company was involved in violations such as "transferring a large number of procurement materials through WeChat and email, and storing a large number of confidential documents on non-confidential computers", the statement said.

"Confidentiality management was in a state of neglect and loss of control, posing serious risks of leakages of secrets," it said.

Based on relevant regulations, the procurement tendering qualification of CFEITC has been revoked, the PLA's equipment management department said, emphasizing that "from today onwards, all relevant units shall not sign any commission service agreements with CFEITC".

The statement said that cooperation projects that have not yet started must be immediately terminated, while those that have commenced must be promptly suspended.

For ongoing projects that cannot be terminated, officials must conduct a thorough handover and review of documents and materials with CFEITC to ensure no security and confidentiality issues arise.

According to the company, CFEITC was established in 2004 and became part of China Electronics Technology Group Corp, a major State-owned enterprise, in 2009.

CFEITC said it possessed a Grade A tendering qualification for central investment projects, procurement qualifications for foreign government loan projects, qualifications for implementing external aid material projects, as well as the security and confidentiality qualifications for consulting services related to classified military projects.